AbstractRecords dating from the tenure of Indiana
University President John Coulter. Organized into two series, the collection primarily
consists of incoming correspondence during Coulter's tenure.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Advance notice is required.

Historical Note

John M. Coulter was a professor of Botany and the eighth president of Indiana University
from 1891-1893. He was born in Ningpo, China on November 20, 1851 to Moses Stanley and
Caroline E.(Crowe) Coulter. He received his BA (1870), MA (1873), and Ph.D. (1882) from
Hanover College. Coulter also received a law degree from Indiana University in 1920 (pro
merits). Married to Georgie M. Gaylord in January 1884, they had three children, one son
and two daughters.

Coulter's career began as a Botanist for the U.S. Geological Survey in the Rocky Mts.
from 1872-1873. He then became a professor of Natural Sciences at Hanover College
(1874-1879) and of Biology at Wabash College (1879-1891). After his term at Indiana
University, he became President of Lake Forest University (1893-1896) He ended his
academic tenure as head of the Department of Botany at the University of Chicago from
1896-1925. Coulter was also a member to the National Academy of Sciences, the Botanical
Society of America, American Society of Naturalists, and the President of the American
Association of University Professors in 1918. He was an advisor of the Bryce Thompson
Institute for Plant Research in Yonkers, New York from 1925-1928. In addition, Coulter
was the founder and editor of the Botanical Gazette from 1875 until his death on
December 23, 1928. He was buried at Warsaw, Indiana.

Arrangement

Indiana University President's Office records organized into two series, Administrative
files and Addresses.

Scope and Content Note

The Presidential records of John M. Coulter are organized in two series: Administrative
files and Addresses.

The Administrative files series contains general correspondence including letters of
recommendation for incoming students, solicitations of new faculty members, applications
for leaves of absence, departmental reports, faculty resignations, and letters of
acceptance and rejection for faculty positions. Prominent correspondents include David
Starr Jordan and Joseph Swain.

The Addresses series is small, consisting of a single folder holding Coulter's 1891
"Practical education: an address before the students of Indiana University."

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online
catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the
catalog using these terms.